Monthly Archives: February 2014

BIGMAX Cranes, one of the leading truck crane manufacturers in North America, has announced the launch of a new line of marine cranes to be distributed throughout the United States, Canada, Central and South America.

BIGMAX telescopic cranes and Amco Veba articulated or knuckleboom marine cranes can now be ordered to assist with cargo handling or on workboats used in various industries from commercial fishing and coastal transportation, to towing and aquaculture.

Todd Slobogean, CEO of the parent company Technocrane Inc., says “The Amco Veba and BIGMAX Marine Cranes have many excellent features not typically found in the under 40 t/m class. These features include:

a rugged oil bath rotation system

dual rack and pinion slewing

standup pedestal controls, and

three levels of marinization

In addition, both the BIGMAX and the Amco Veba marine cranes have heavy duty lift cylinders similar to those used on large excavators. The cylinders have threaded steel cylinder heads, rather than cylinder heads held in place with snap rings.”

The larger Amco Veba articulated cranes have a longer reach, higher lift capacity and the benefit of additional boom articulation. The BIGMAX mono-boom telescopic cranes are smaller and less expensive, while still offering the features that make them suitable for harsh marine weather and exposure to corrosive ocean conditions.

Cranes have been supplied to the marine industry by Technocrane since 1990. Their customers include:

Amco Veba Marine Cranes

Canadian Coast Guard

Dept of Fisheries and Oceans

Military Patrol

Commercial vessels

Aquaculture Vessels

Tugboats

Fishing Fleets

Crab Boats

Marine Docks

Fire and Emergency Response Boats

The new marine cranes are considerably different. Slobogean notes, “Generally using a conventional truck crane for a marine application is not the best solution for several reasons. The control valve assembly will have to be raised and relocated and the hoses will need to be lengthened because a truck crane is designed to be mounted on a truck frame.

As a marine crane specialist, Mr. Slobogean has also advised that corrosion proofing on regular truck cranes is not sufficient. Standard industrial paint and piston rod chroming that is adequate for truck cranes quickly deteriorates when exposed to a corrosive marine environment. Furthermore, the slewing systems are not robust or powerful enough to rotate the crane mounted on an unstable floating vessel.

Technocrane Inc., one of Canada’s major crane companies, now offers a reliable, versatile and affordable wireless remote control system suitable for small mono-boom and articulated cranes with low volume hydraulic systems. New BIGMAX cranes from Technocrane’s stock can now be shipped with wireless controls. In addition, BIGMAX cranes currently in service with manual controls can now be economically retrofitted with wireless controls.

Wireless (radio) controls have been well accepted over the last 20 years on most large articulated cranes. However, most of the smaller mono-boom cranes (ie. less than 4 t/m) have been manually operated using the hydraulic control valve on the crane.

Wireless controls have been slow to be accepted for smaller cranes for several reasons:

While inconvenient, an operator of a small crane can manage without remote controls. Small cranes have a shorter boom and therefore the load hook is usually less than 15 feet from the operator on the ground.

Reliable FAC approved radio controls have been too costly to justify. In the past, adding wireless controls to a small crane meant increasing its cost by 50%. Whereas, low cost controls, of garage door opener quality, for example, were not a reliable and safe option.

The few cranes that required radio controls had to be purchased with the equipment already installed at the factory with lead times of 90 to 120 days from Europe. Radio controls could not be easily retrofitted to cranes in stock.

Technocrane offers Hectronic wireless controls on all of their BIGMAX cranes for sale. Todd Slobogean, CEO of Technocrane says, “Hectronic has improved the design of their controls. Reliability is excellent and we are now able to offer them for a reasonable price.

Also, we have modularized the design of BIGMAX cranes to allow us to add radio controls at our warehouse, rather than at the factory. This saves time and money which we can pass on to our customers.”

Remote Radio Control for all Bigmax Cranes

Wireless controls are available with 3 or 4 functions as direct replacements for the original control valve. The Hetronic hand held transmitter is available with 4 functions with or without additional PMW toggle switches for other non crane functions.

The electronic control valve is sectional and proportional. It includes man-sized emergency, manual over-ride levers to allow the crane to be operated manually in the event of an electrical problem, or if the transmitter is lost or broken. The wiring harness, which uses DIN connectors, is weather proofed for outdoor use.

Ann Svendsen, VP Marketing says, “We are geared up and ready to sell BIGMAX cranes with radio controls. Our staff can help with selecting and ordering the right crane model and we can often ship from stock within 24 hours – anywhere in North or South America.” For further information call Technocrane toll free at 1-877-531-8644 or link to the website at www.bigmaxcranes.com.